11 pirates arrested by Nivose sentenced to 5 years in prison

(BRUSSELS2) The 11 pirates arrested by the French frigate Nivôse in April 2009 after the attack on the MV Safmarine Asia have just been sentenced to 5 years in prison in Mombasa.

The interested parties had pleaded not guilty, stressing that they were only fishing when the French navy had "disturbed" them, throwing the product of the fishing into the sea. And that they only had penknives. Version that seemed not to hold water. The magistrate, Hon Ole Tanchu, became convinced that they were indeed guilty, as testified by the French sailors and the European officials of the anti-piracy operation. The pirates had attacked, with automatic weapons and RPG, on April 15, 2009, the MV Safmarine Asia, a ship flying the Liberian flag. Attack foiled thanks to the intervention of a helicopter from the French frigate Nivôse and then from the Nivôse itself.

This is the third judgment in Kenya in a few days for pirates arrested by European forces. According to my accounts, this brings to 43 the number of pirates already tried in this country since 2009: 10 arrested by US forces in 2006, 8 arrested by British forces (in a national capacity) in 2008, 25 by European forces in 2009.

Read also:

• 7 pirates arrested by the Spanish navy sentenced to five in prison in Kenya
• 7 pirates arrested by Eunavfor sentenced in Kenya

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)